On Media

NYT's Douthat: Media biased on Komen

New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat argues that a pro-choice bias defined the media's coverage of the Susan G. Komen foundation's decision — ultimately reversed — to withdraw funding for Planned Parenthood:

From the nightly news shows to print and online media, the coverage’s tone alternated between wonder and outrage — wonder that anyone could possibly find Planned Parenthood even remotely controversial and outrage that the Komen foundation had “politicized” the cause of women’s health.

“That ubiquitous pink ribbon ... is sporting a black eye today,” Claire Shipman announced on ABC NewsThursday, while Diane Sawyer nodded along. On MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell dressed down the Komen foundation’s founder, Nancy Brinker: “I have to tell you,” Mitchell said, “this is shocking to a lot of your longtime supporters. ... How could this have taken place?” In story after story, journalists explicitly passed judgment on Komen for creating a controversy where none need ever have existed.

Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable. In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as the equivalent of, well, the Komen foundation: an apolitical, high-minded and humanitarian institution whose work no rational person — and certainly no self-respecting woman — could possibly question or oppose.

But of course millions of Americans — including, yes, millions of American women — do oppose Planned Parenthood. They oppose the 300,000-plus abortions it performs every year (making it the largest abortion provider in the country), and they oppose its tireless opposition to even modest limits on abortion....

... Even if some forms of partiality are inevitable, journalists betray their calling when they simply ignore self-evident truths about a story.

According to the most recent Gallup poll, from July 2011, the country is evenly split on the abortion issue, with 47 percent identifying themselves as pro-life and 47 percent identifying themselves as pro-choice. Douthat also points out that 58 percent of those surveyed believe abortion should either be “illegal in all circumstances” or “legal in only a few circumstances" (versus 39 percent who believe abortion should either be "legal under any circumstances" or "legal under most circumstances.")